Tyler Bozak and his Leafs teammates were stymied all night by young goaltender Braden Holtby on Saturday.

Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin celebrates his goal, the first of the game.

By:Paul HunterSports Reporter, Published on Sat Jan 22 2011

Tyler Bozak can be excused another sleepless night in what, undoubtedly, has been a season of tossing and turning.

Handed the No. 1 centre job with the Maple Leafs this season in hopes he’d develop on-ice chemistry with off-ice buddy Phil Kessel, the goals and the points just haven’t been there for there for the 24-year-old.

Bozak’s latest antagonist in this unfolding nightmare was someone most of the found-ins at the Air Canada Centre had never heard of but someone the sophomore pivot will never forget. A look at the summary would suggest that, once again, it was Alexander Ovechkin who stuck a dagger in the heart of the Leafs and their fans on Saturday.

In truth, while Ovechkin certainly delivered the coupe de grace with a hat trick in a 4-1 victory Saturday, it was a little-known rookie netminder who set the Leafs up for the kill.

Braden Holtby, in just his just his seventh NHL appearance, was brilliant in the Capitals’ net, making 35 saves as the Leafs put together what was actually an excellent effort.

Holtby saved his best for Bozak, who had his own hat trick of horrors.

He couldn’t finish a 2-on-1 in the first, was rejected on a shorthanded breakaway in the second and was robbed by Holtby’s glove hand in the third.

“I had a lot of chances, everyone did. He played a really good game, give him credit,” said Bozak. “I’ve heard of him. I knew he was a pretty good goalie but he came out and stoned us pretty good tonight.”

“You want to score when you get the opportunity. This year I haven’t scored as many goals as I’d like. I had some good opportunities tonight and their goalie made some big saves. I just need to bear down.”

The score didn’t reflect Toronto’s determination. It could be argued that they played better than in Thursday’s 5-2 win over Anaheim, but Toronto goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere, seeing a squandered opportunity, was not sure his squad deserved a better fate.

“I thought we should have started the game a little bit better,” he said. “We didn’t play badly in the first but we could have tried to create a little bit more offensively; try to create a little bit more traffic in front of the young kid. At the end of the game, when it was a little too late, he made some big saves. But at that time it’s a little too late.”

After playing to a pair of 5-4 shootout games earlier the season, with the Caps and Leafs each recording a victory, this one was surprisingly low scoring, with Washington carrying a 1-0 lead into the third.

Ovechkin’s second pushed it to 2-0 early in that final frame, but it was then the Leafs that applied tremendous pressure. It was Tim Brent, of all people, from Jay Rosehill, of all people, who finally broke the rook’s shutout bid. It was the fourth goal of the campaign for Brent.

Rosehill, by the way, was in the lineup to replace Colton Orr who has been put on injury reserve. He may have suffered a concussion while losing a fight to George Parros and subsequently hitting his head on the ice during Thursday’s 5-2 win over Anaheim.

Toronto’s momentum was killed by a Washington timeout followed by a turnover by defenceman Luke Schenn at the Caps’ blueline. That gave Matt Hendricks a breakaway the other way and he made no mistake, finishing with a lovely deke to make it 3-1.

“I guess it was a mistake or a tough break whatever you want to call it,” said Schenn. “Things happen pretty fast out there. You can’t be perfect all the time; (you) have to try and forget about it now. You feel bad for making that mistake but it’s time to move on.”

Coach Ron Wilson was pleased with his team’s effort but lamented his team’s inability to get shots through from the point or to finish good chances.

Holtby didn’t have to make a save on Toronto’s best opportunity. Early in the second, about a minute after Bozak’s breakaway, Mikhail Grabovski — the Leafs’ only 20-goal man — was looking at a wide open net from in close with the puck on his forehand but he casually flicked it off the outside of the post.

“Our best goal scorer has an empty net, the puck rolls and it goes off the post,” said the coach.

At the other end, Ovechkin put on a demonstration of how to finish chances, as he always does against the Leafs. He has 22 goals in 22 career games against Toronto.

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